Annual Leave - use it or lose!

It is only 15 days until Christmas and 21 days until the end of 2020.  No doubt after this year, you will be glad to move in to 2021!

If your holiday year for your business runs from 1 January to 31 December, employees normally have to take all of their holiday before the end of the year or they lose it.  However, due to the Covid-19, the rules have changed with regard to holiday and employees do not lose the holiday but in fact can carry holiday over in to holiday leave period 2021 and 2022. 
 
We would suggest that if any of your employees are currently being furloughed that you ask them to take any holiday during the furlough period to reduce the need for them to take excessive holiday in the annual leave period 2021 and 2022.  If you ask employees to take holiday, you must give them twice the amount of notice to take the holiday, e.g., they take one day’s holiday you have to give them two days’ notice to take the holiday. 
 

hey must be paid their full contractual rate of pay for the holiday.  If they are on furlough you can claim furlough payment and pay the additional amount between furlough pay and contractual pay for the holiday.  

Furlough Scheme update

Just when we all thought the Government had finalized the changes last week to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“CJRS”) – furlough - they decided last Friday night to make further changes.  It certainly feels like ground hog day as that is what they did back in the Spring and they made weekly changes every Friday night! 
The main points of the changes are: 

• The scheme will run from 1 November 2020 to 31 March 2021.  However, the details are only provided up to 31 January 2021 and it will be announced at a later date how February and March will be covered. 

• It is now a condition of making a claim that the employer accepts that HMRC will publish information about CJRS claims on the internet. This includes the name of the employer and a “reasonable indication” of the amount claimed. An exception may be made for employers who can show that publication would expose their workforce to “serious risk of violence or intimidation”. 

• If you are planning on placing any employees on furlough, you need to have a furlough agreement in place before they are furloughed.  If they were previously furloughed, you can update the earlier agreement.  

• Claims may not be made for any day that an employee is serving notice if their employment is coming to an end between 1 December 2020 and 31 January 2021.  Previously you could keep the employee on furlough during the notice period which meant the employer could recover some of the costs through furlough for the notice period, as the employee was still employed by the company.  You cannot do this from 1 December 2020.

If you need any advice on furlough, returning to work safely, making changes to employees working hours, redundancies or other employment issues please contact us on 01245 261883 

Extended furlough and lockdown v2

Over the recent weeks there have been so many changes regarding the pandemic, no doubt like us, you may have been confused at some point about what we can and cannot do in our daily lives.  

 
Amongst all of this has been the American Presidential election and watching from afar has been interesting.  We are still wondering if President Trump will ever concede or will he have to be formally removed in January 2021!
 
Businesses are being affected once more with the second lockdown due to the increase in Covid-19 rates.  At least the Government have extended the Furlough Scheme until 31 March 2021 for employers to help keep employees employed.  We are unsure if it will continue with the employer being able to claim the full 80% or if they will have to start making contributions which was required in September and October.
 
If your business can remain open then it has to be Covid safe and ensure that you have the appropriate safety measures in place, which should include keeping 2 metres apart, space between work areas, hand sanitizer available, limit communal areas to be touched and if necessary, wear masks when not at work area.  Also, ensure that all areas are cleaned thoroughly on a regular basis.
 
If you have had to temporarily close due to the lockdown and furlough your employees here are some of the key points for the extended furlough scheme: 

• From 1 November 2020 employers can claim 80% of an employee’s usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month. 

• Employers can claim for employees who were employed on 30 October 2020, as long as they have made a PAYE RTI submission to HMRC between the 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee, unless they re-employed an employee after 23 September 2020. 

• There is no maximum number of employees that employers can claim for (under the existing furlough scheme, employers could only claim for the number of employees they had claimed for previous to June).  

• Employees returning from maternity leave need to give the statutory eight weeks' notice to end maternity leave early in order to be furloughed (and get furlough pay, typically higher than SMP).  The guidance does not deal with the issue of the employee and employer who agree to shorten that eight-week period. 

• The employer must confirm in writing to the employee that they have been furloughed, and keep a written record for five years.  the employee does not have to confirm that they agree in writing to be furloughed.  

• Employers can up to and including 13 November 2020, enter into furlough agreements with employees which are backdated to 1 November 2020.  
• Employees who were on the employers payroll on 23 September 2020, but were subsequently made redundant or stopped working for their employer after this date can be re-employed and furloughed. 

Currently if an employee is serving notice as they are leaving the company, the employer can keep the employee on furlough during the notice period and claim 80% salary from HMRC.  The employer has to pay the employee their full contractual pay during the notice period and has to pay the difference between furlough pay and full pay. 
 
However, the government is reviewing whether employers should be eligible to claim for employees serving contractual or statutory notice periods and will change the approach for claim periods starting on or after 1 December 2020, with further guidance published in late November.
 
From December 2020, HMRC will publish employer names for companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), the company registration number of those who have made claims under the scheme for the month of December onwards.

If you need any advice on furlough, returning to work safely, making changes to employees working hours, redundancies or other employment issues please contact us on 01245 261883

Changes to face coverings in the workplace

 

Following the Prime Minister's announcement yesterday, The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings in a Relevant Place and on Public Transport) (England) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2020 have been published.

Regulation 2 amends existing legislation on face coverings to make it clear that workers in places listed in Schedule 3 must wear masks.

Schedule 3 includes:- 

• shop workers
• shopping centres
• restaurants and bars
• banks
• hotels 

There is the same reasonable excuse exception as existed for other obligations to wear a face mask (for example, because of disability or where wearing a mask would cause severe distress).

The Regulations make it clear that it is the employee/worker who is committing the offence and is liable to the £200 fine, not the employer.

Although it is the employee that will be fined, we would suggest that you update your policies to ensure that employees know that it is company policy that they must wear a face covering whilst working unless they are medically exempt.  If you would like to discuss in more detail contact us on 01245 261883

 

Is returning employees to the workplace right for your business?

Most children are now back at school after being off since March due to the Pandemic.  Some of you may be sad to see them go back but others may be glad that they will now have a routine and homeschooling was harder than you thought. 

As a business owner, you may have had employees juggling home schooling and working from home due to the Pandemic and found it hard for your business to manage the situation.  No doubt most employees have adapted to the new way of working.  Moving forward, you may decide that flexible working is a better option and a benefit to employees.  We believe that it will be harder for an employer to say no to working from home if an employee makes a Right to Request Flexible Working request, when employers have required their employees to work from home during lockdown.  Also, you may decide that you do not need large offices for employees and working from home is a better financial option.  Having employees working remotely, is different and as a business, you will need to put in place ways to still manage employees, communicate with them effectively and ensure that they feel supported, especially with any mental health issues.
 
Now that most businesses can return to work you can only do this if the work place is Covid safe.  There are a number of measures that will need to be considered, is the workplace big enough to allow for social distancing, if not how will this work?  Some businesses have incorporated a shift system, or have teams that alternate between working in the office and working from home.  Also, as part of being Covid safe, there must be hand sanitiser available, desks spaced out to meet the minimum distance, if necessary, screens available between desks, limit areas that are communal, such as staff room and kitchens and have a system for toilet usage, such as only one person in at a time.  All areas will need to be cleaned thoroughly at the end of each day.
 
The Furlough Scheme finishes at the end of October, if you still have employees who are furloughed, you will need to decide how to return employees to work.  You may have to consider other options such as reduced working or if your business has been impacted and you do not need so many employees, you may need to make redundancies.  Employment law still applies when making changes to an employees contract or commencing redundancies. 
 
The Government under the Furlough Job Retention Scheme are offering businesses a £1000 bonus for employees who were furloughed and are still employed at the end of January 2021.  To be eligible the requirements are:

• employers will receive a one-off payment of £1,000 for every employee who has previously been furloughed under Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) – if they remain continuously employed to the end of January 2021;
• to ensure the jobs are meaningful well-paid, employees must earn at least £520 (the National Insurance lower earnings limit) a month on average between the beginning of November and the end of January;
• those who were furloughed and had a claim submitted for them after the 10 June (when the CJRS closed to new entrants), because they were returning from paternal leave or time serving as a military reservist will also be eligible for the bonus as long as they meet the other eligibility criteria;
• employers will also be eligible for employee transfers protected under TUPE legislation, provided they have been continuously employed and meet the other eligibility criteria and the new employer has also submitted a CJRS claim for that employee.

If you need any advice on furlough, returning to work safely or making changes to employees working hours or redundancies please contact us on 01245 261883

Employees on furlough and holiday

Whilst employees are on furlough, their holiday still continues to accrue and the employer can ask them to take holiday whilst on furlough.  You have to pay them their full salary for the days that they take as holiday but this will only cost you the top up from furlough amount to the full contractual salary.

If your employees do not usually work bank holidays and take those days off, if they are furloughed they are entitled to add those days to their annual leave entitlement when they return to work from furlough.  The annual leave period for this year has been extended and holiday can be carried over until 2022.  Alternatively, we would suggest that you consider paying the employees for bank holidays whilst they have been on furlough.  If they were furloughed before 10 April 2020, you will need to pay the holiday for Easter Friday, Easter Monday and two May bank holidays.  If you would like to discuss how to do this correctly, please contact us on 01245 261883.

Changes to Furlough

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced reforms to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme “CJRS” on 29 May 2020. 

• The scheme will continue in its current format until the end of July.  However, the scheme will close for new employees on 30 June 2020 and 10 June 2020 will be the last day that employers can place employees on furlough.  So, if you have not furloughed any employees and need to do so, you must do it by tomorrow.  

• From 1 July, 'flexible furlough' is being introduced, meaning employees will be able to work part-time and be furloughed part-time.  Businesses will decide how that will work (in terms of the time split).  Employers will have to pay for the hours worked and still claim under the furlough scheme for when the employee is not working. 

• From 1 August, employers will have to pay employee's national insurance contributions and pension contributions, and can no longer reclaim them through the CJRS. 

• From 1 September, the government will only reimburse 70% of salary (up to a maximum of £2,190). Employers are required to top-up to 80% (or more, depending on what the employer agreed with the employee). 

• From 1 October, the government will only reimburse 60% of salary (up to a maximum of £1,875), and employers will continue having to top up to 80% (or more depending on what the employer agreed with the employee). 

• The furlough scheme will end on 31 October 2020. 

• The self-employed grant is being extended, with applications opening in August for a second and final grant.  There will be parity with the reducing furlough scheme, paying 70% (not 80%) of average earnings up to £6,750.